2 tangs, advice?

[Billldg]

Oh yeah lol I'm stupid. Really is your WTB aggressive? I was thinking of getting one because they are super nice but maybe not after hearing that.

I was thinking of getting them all at the same size and introducing at the same time since I have the ability. Idk if that would be good or not or negate the aggression

I don't have a White Tail, I have a Tomini and it is a sissy, LOL!!! I QT'ed the LT tang and the Tomini at the same time and in the QT tank the Tomin tang bullied the LT tang because of the size, but after introducing them to my DT that quickly changed as the LT tang grew.

 

[Billldg]

That's an amaZing tank my friend! Is there any specific acanthurus tang I should be looking at? I was looking on liveaquaria and I could get a lemon tang which would be nice!

Besides the obvious acanthurus tangs I listed as a no go, I still like the Convict tang. If you looked at my 225 build thread you will see that, as much as I like Zebrasoma, I ended up yielding to the number of tangs as I really wanted a Convict tang.

Remember this, people are drawn to the flash of the fish, but their is a great beauty to the simplicity of colors as well.

 

[KRas1014]

I'm certainly no expert on tangs here, but I can at least share my input since I have 2 in my 120G. First one I put in was a blue Hippo Tang (awesome fish, I swear she thinks she is the mom of the tank checking up on all the others). About a month later I added a yellow Tang, which was about the same size as the Hippo, about 2.5". From my experience, they show absolutely no aggression at all. In fact, they are pretty much inseparable. They share the same sleeping spots in the caves at night and grave along the rocks during the day, although the yellow does a much better job at the grazing lol. Maybe I got lucky, but I thought I'd share!

 

[Fishko]

You should never tempt the Tang Police, but a holiday might give you an edge.

I Police my fish and I feed them. If they are fighting I get a net or just insert my hand ("The Hand" if you will!) and heckle the fighters into their corners and don't let them come out until they stop fighting. I usually don't have to heckle for more than a day. Fish learn faster than humans or dogs, especially if you hand train them. The hand also feeds heavy at first too impress the fish trapped in the tank that the hand is important.

My hand is going numb typing, but seriously get involved with your fish when you put them in. Heckle them WHEN they are fighting and you can become the Alpha (hand) Fish and they won't fight with each other once they figure out it's the Hands tank and fighting is futile.

I actually feed very lightly once they settle in but that is another fish Tale for another post.

Oh yeah, (edit) Tomini, Purple, (and one that gets too big to keep in any tank), ~not enough gallons according to most. Also, it is not Thanksgiving here so I'm mum.
Good Luck!

I wished that worked with my sixline. Its not coming out of my 29g no matter what i try

 

[X-37B]

Convict and Tomini and + a foxface in my 120.
Convict keeps the 6 blue green chromis inline, lol.
Convicts get big fast.

 

[Jon Fishman]

LFS had a fire-sale on very small Blonde Nasso’s, and I have a 5” Gem....... Even at the very affordable price they were selling them for, I just couldn’t chance it., and my Gem has shown no aggression to anything in tank

 

[AcanthurusRex]

White Tail Bristletooth tang

That is my demon. Very unhappy in my little tank. The scalpel must a quarter in long.

 

[Zbutcher]

I'm certainly no expert on tangs here, but I can at least share my input since I have 2 in my 120G. First one I put in was a blue Hippo Tang (awesome fish, I swear she thinks she is the mom of the tank checking up on all the others). About a month later I added a yellow Tang, which was about the same size as the Hippo, about 2.5". From my experience, they show absolutely no aggression at all. In fact, they are pretty much inseparable. They share the same sleeping spots in the caves at night and grave along the rocks during the day, although the yellow does a much better job at the grazing lol. Maybe I got lucky, but I thought I'd share!

Wow that's awesome. I thought hippo tangs are not worth it because of the ich risk? But also my guess is that the tangs body shapes are so different that they didn't feel the need to be aggressive

 

[Zbutcher]

That is my demon. Very unhappy in my little tank. The scalpel must a quarter in long.

Are WTB just super jerks or something?

 

[Boonz28]

Believe it or not I have a purple tang, yellow tang, gem tang, long nose black tang, sailfin tang, blue hippo tang, and a yellow eye kole tang all in the same 750XXL.
I’m not saying I recommend it but I did a lot of research and had a game plan for this before I even got the tank.
These were among the first fish added to the tank and with the exception of the long nose black tang, all were tiny when I got them, as small as I could find (some no bigger than a quarter). Then they were all QT’d and added to the new tank around the same time.
Most are what I would call a medium size tang now (a little larger than palm size) and get along great.
The black tang was added later but as a larger specimen it hasn’t paid much attention to the smaller tangs and they haven’t shown any aggression towards it.
Another thing I did to try to keep aggression to a minimum is to feed very heavy, a large variety of foods with nori available daily.
Of course this requires a filtration system designed for heavy-in-heavy-out nutrient management. Again though, this was all planned from the start even before I bought the tank.
When I first added them into the tank there was some bickering while establishing a pecking order. Any time I saw this i’d shut the lights out for a few hours so when they came back on it was a new day in their minds.
My tangs will flash at each other now and then now but no real aggression, I never see any ripped fins or anything like that. Shoot, they even school together and swim around the tank sometimes in the evening.
All that being said I wouldn’t add another tang now that they’re established in the tank, I expect they’d probably kill it if I did.
So it can be done, but do your research, make a game plan, and have a backup plan if things aren’t working out (such as taking them back to your LFS even if it means giving away an expensive fish that you’ve put through QT).

 

[Zbutcher]

Believe it or not I have a purple tang, yellow tang, gem tang, long nose black tang, sailfin tang, blue hippo tang, and a yellow eye kole tang all in the same 750XXL.
I’m not saying I recommend it but I did a lot of research and had a game plan for this before I even got the tank.
These were among the first fish added to the tank and with the exception of the long nose black tang, all were tiny when I got them, as small as I could find (some no bigger than a quarter). Then they were all QT’d and added to the new tank around the same time.
Most are what I would call a medium size tang now (a little larger than palm size) and get along great.
The black tang was added later but as a larger specimen it hasn’t paid much attention to the smaller tangs and they haven’t shown any aggression towards it.
Another thing I did to try to keep aggression to a minimum is to feed very heavy, a large variety of foods with nori available daily.
Of course this requires a filtration system designed for heavy-in-heavy-out nutrient management. Again though, this was all planned from the start even before I bought the tank.
When I first added them into the tank there was some bickering while establishing a pecking order. Any time I saw this i’d shut the lights out for a few hours so when they came back on it was a new day in their minds.
My tangs will flash at each other now and then now but no real aggression, I never see any ripped fins or anything like that. Shoot, they even school together and swim around the tank sometimes in the evening.
All that being said I wouldn’t add another tang now that they’re established in the tank, I expect they’d probably kill it if I did.
So it can be done, but do your research, make a game plan, and have a backup plan if things aren’t working out (such as taking them back to your LFS even if it means giving away an expensive fish that you’ve put through QT).

Yeah that's fair. What's your opinion on adding 3 tangs instead of 2 to disperse aggression?

 

[Boonz28]

Could help or two of the tangs could gang up on the third. I think it depends on a lot of variables. I think if you added 3 very small ones at the same time you’d probably be good to go. Just keep them well fed and watch them closely for the first week or two. If you see any serious aggression I’d shut the lights off for a few hours and then watch them again when you turn them back on. There’s no aggression when the lights are off and in my experience the more days (in the fish’s mind) that go by together, the more they just accept one another as roommates.
There will inevitably be some squabbling as they establish a pecking order and size each other up initially. I think it’s a lot like dogs, they can’t communicate verbally so when a stranger comes around they they raise the hair on their backs and maybe show some teeth until they both figure out that the other one isn’t out to kill and eat them.
Just make sure no one is getting beaten up or injured, if you make it past the first few days I think you’re mostly in the clear.

 

[Zbutcher]

Could help or two of the tangs could gang up on the third. I think it depends on a lot of variables. I think if you added 3 very small ones at the same time you’d probably be good to go. Just keep them well fed and watch them closely for the first week or two. If you see any serious aggression I’d shut the lights off for a few hours and then watch them again when you turn them back on. There’s no aggression when the lights are off and in my experience the more days (in the fish’s mind) that go by together, the more they just accept one another as roommates.
There will inevitably be some squabbling as they establish a pecking order and size each other up initially. I think it’s a lot like dogs, they can’t communicate verbally so when a stranger comes around they they raise the hair on their backs and maybe show some teeth until they both figure out that the other one isn’t out to kill and eat them.
Just make sure no one is getting beaten up or injured, if you make it past the first few days I think you’re mostly in the clear.

Awesome man I'm definitely going to do that.

So if I am for sure getting a purple tang, I wanted one bristletooth as well, any suggestions on which one? Was hoping for a stunner. What about the third? I'm really not sure what to go with, tank will be a 110 gallon, 5 feet long red sea reefer 525

 

[Boonz28]

I personally love blue hippo tangs. Nothing else looks like them and they’ve got great personalities. Mine acts as the mother of the tank as well. I’ve got some wrasses that like to chase each other now and then and she always charges in and breaks it up

 

[Zbutcher]

I personally love blue hippo tangs. Nothing else looks like them and they’ve got great personalities. Mine acts as the mother of the tank as well. I’ve got some wrasses that like to chase each other now and then and she always charges in and breaks it up

Don't you worry about ich with them? Also wouldn't my tank be too small? I thought they needed a 180?

 

[Boonz28]

I don’t worry about ich too much because I QT everything and feed my fish a very diverse diet which helps keep them healthy imo. As for the tank size, it would definitely outgrow your tank eventually, however if you’re starting out with a little quarter sized guy it would take a couple years and then you’d have a decision to make. Either upgrade to a bigger tank or find a new home for him and get another small one.

 

[Zbutcher]

I don’t worry about ich too much because I QT everything and feed my fish a very diverse diet which helps keep them healthy imo. As for the tank size, it would definitely outgrow your tank eventually, however if you’re starting out with a little quarter sized guy it would take a couple years and then you’d have a decision to make. Either upgrade to a bigger tank or find a new home for him and get another small one.

Personally I wouldn't want to do that and honestly I don't think I'd want to upgrade after this one until much later down the road so I suppose a different would be a better move in my case.

Also since you mentioned it, how exactly do you quarantine your fish? I've wanted to do it because I have a had a few different issues in my tank that's been up for 9ish months. And I have wanted to quarantine but i haven't wanted to disturb anything. But since I'm upgrading and doing that anyways I feel like it's a good move to just quarantine in the old tank they are in ya know? What exactly would my procedure be? I do have some copper power which is chelated so it shouldn't hurt my fish as bad. How long do I quarantine them for (the new tank would have new rock and everything). I also do have a mandarin, any tips for quarantining him since he eats pods (though he has never had any issues)

 

[Rogueaquariums]

Hey everyone,

Currently I have a 75 gallon. Now before you go all tang police, I am upgrading to a red sea reefer 525xl so dont worry lol

For context, atm I am able to acquire a baby purple tang and a baby bristletooth of my choice (both probably an inch or 2). I am wondering if they would be okay in the 75 temporarily for like a month or 2?
On top of that would there be aggression later down the road? I would be adding them at the same time and at the same size. I know not to mix the same genus.

I have also heard when it comes to stocking tangs together its better to have more then 2, like 3 tangs to spread aggression. but I dont know much about that so im looking for advice for all of this.

Or would i be better off with just one tang even in the 525? If its better to go with one, which is better for eating hair algae?

Sorry for all the questions but thank you for all the advice.

Have a great thanksgiving!

Besides the obvious acanthurus tangs I listed as a no go, I still like the Convict tang. If you looked at my 225 build thread you will see that, as much as I like Zebrasoma, I ended up yielding to the number of tangs as I really wanted a Convict tang.

Remember this, people are drawn to the flash of the fish, but their is a great beauty to the simplicity of colors as well.

I totally agree with that statement. I personally like the convicts tangs as their colors are simplistic but yet the have their own flare. They are a great utility fish as well.

 

[Boonz28]

I personally haven’t quarantined a mandarin so I’m not sure what you would do about that. As for the rest, there are lots of good posts on here about quarantine procedure. I personally like a combination of copper power, fresh water dips, along with medicated food to take care of internal parasites. My advise would be to invest in a Hanna checker to make sure your copper levels are spot on.

 

[Zbutcher]

I personally haven’t quarantined a mandarin so I’m not sure what you would do about that. As for the rest, there are lots of good posts on here about quarantine procedure. I personally like a combination of copper power, fresh water dips, along with medicated food to take care of internal parasites. My advise would be to invest in a Hanna checker to make sure your copper levels are spot on.

I will definitely do that. Any medicated food recommendations? I live in Canada and I haven't been able to get anything. I know I've seen a lot of people talk about Dr Gs or something. But most I got is garlic xtreme and selcon